Archive for the ‘Yarn’ Category

The production team has had a colorful week as a collection of new yarn has moved from fiber to skein. As evidenced by Laurie’s color change spool from the carder, we have been working with such beautiful colors that the combination looks a bit like a geode.

We are working on a total of five new shades of Sylvan Spirit and we can’t wait for you to see them. You were among the first to see our new Hematite shade last week, and this week we have some new colors to share.

From left to right we have Jade, Agate, Aquamarine and Turquoise. These new additions to the Sylvan Spirit spectrum are going to give you a wonderful palette to play with this Spring.

Our 50/50 blend of Wool and TENCEL® Lyocell makes a soft yarn with a satiny sheen. You will love its beautiful drape and spectacular stitch definition. This DK weight yarn includes 180 yards per 2 oz. skein and is a wonderful choice for lighter weight knits that will provide that touch of warmth and comfort we like from Spring and Summer knitwear.

For those of you who are curious, TENCEL is a natural derivative of wood pulp from cultivated Southern oak and gum trees grown on land unsuitable for grazing.

These new colors of Sylvan Spirit are making their debut at Sitches WEST this weekend and we will have skeins available for everyone on our website later next week. We hope that you enjoy working with this yarn as much as we loved making it!

We are eager to cast on for another Knit Along. We thought that a smaller project with a larger gauge might make for a quick knit that will be done in time to help us stay warm through the tail end of winter.

All of us agreed that Hilary Smith Callis’ Adama cowl pattern would be fun to work on. We spent a few moments this week browsing through our worsted weight yarn options in the shop and we each found a selection that we can’t wait to get started with.

Kate has already cast on and gotten started so that we can figure out if the pattern needs 3 skeins of yarn or can be finished with just two. She’ll be sharing her findings on our Ravelry Group Page early next week, so be sure to check in before you place your orders.

The rest of us are going to be casting on for our projects on Valentine’s Day (as a little gift to ourselves). Would you like to join the fun?

According to style maven Karen Templer of Fringe Association, the new “it” sweater this Fall will be made with camel. She follows many top designers and when they released their previews earlier this month of 2015 Fall Fashion, camel sweaters were abundant. She collected a few of her favorites in a blog post last week.

We just washed and skeined the last few skeins of our beautiful Alashan 100% camel yarn this week. So you may want to act fast and ensure that you don’t miss out.

These skeins of 350 yards of DK weight yarn are deliciously soft. And due to the longer fibers, this yarn (that is close to the soft feel of cashmere) is in fact stronger and less likely to pill. Practical luxury!

And for those of you who are looking for a yarn option that is a bit more affordable, or a different neutral shade that will better suit your complexion, the undyed skeins of our Alpaca Elegance could be a perfect substitute. At a similar gauge, these 180 yard skeins are just $14.25 each.

We have found a few classic patterns that will ensure that your new handmade sweater for fall is on the cutting edge of fashion.

If you prefer pullovers, Ysolda Teague’s Blank Canvas is a favorite of Kate’s. She has knit a total of three! And the #33 Cabled Pullover from the Fall 2014 issue of Knit Simple magazine could be another timeless option.

For those of you who love cardigans you might want to check out Joji Locatelli’s Grandpa Cardigan for a pattern that looks as delightful to knit as it would be to wear.

We hope that if you are drawn to try our special limited edition Alashan, you’ll be among the last to snap up these beautiful skeins and we can’t wait to see what you make with our skeins for your new fall wardrobe.

Last June, Jill Draper encouraged us to try something new. As one of our favorite custom yarn dyers and designers we were eager to oblige. She wanted to try creating an ombre striping yarn by carding already dyed wool instead of dying finished skeins.

Jill and her Mom brought beautiful wool fiber to the Spinnery in two natural shades and some brilliant dyed in the wool colors in both warm and cool spectrums. We cranked up the machines to see what was possible.

Here you can see bobbins of her beautiful yarn fresh from the steamer after having been spun.

Just this week, as she was preparing to head to Vogue Knitting Live in NYC she announced on Ravelry and via Instagram that her new yarn was going to be making its debut this weekend!

Rifton is a single ply, fine USA grown and spun wool yarn, approximately 21.5 microns, and lives somewhere between a stripe and an ombré. Because the batch was a first for both us and Jill, the cakes of this beautiful yarn have unique yardages. Jill will ensure that each skein has the yardage noted, please check yardage needed as this is a single batch yarn.

We can’t wait to see what crafters make with these skeins. If you aren’t headed to New York, you may be able to find a few skeins in her Etsy Shop next week.

Our month long sale began earlier this week and shoppers have been finding some great deals. We wanted to share the details with you so that you wouldn’t miss out on the fun.

So far our 30% discount on our 2-ply fingering weight Sock Art yarns has been the biggest hit. We are in the midst of transitioning to a 3-ply version of both yarns that will be available for sale later this spring. As a result, we are discontinuing the 2-ply Forest and Meadow.

Forest’s blend of 70% Fine Western Wool and 30% TENCEL® Lyocell (a man made fiber created from wood pulp) lends it a distinct sparkle that brings out fancy stitch patterns. We thank the sheep and the trees for producing this lovely fiber!

Meadow is a blend of some of the rarest American-grown natural fibers, 50% super fine kid mohair and 50% Fine Western Wool (a cross between Rambouillet and Columbia sourced from herds along the Front Range of the Rockies). This yarn is elastic, warm and soft with a subtle luster. These hand painted skeins are a tribute to the farmers and animals that produce such excellent fleeces.

Our skeins are hand painted by a friend and local artist Melissa Johnson 5 at a time in a microwave on her back porch. The colors are mouthwatering and we’ve found that many Spinnery fans want to use this yarn for more than just socks. It is easy to envision working with this yarn for larger projects such as shawls and lightweight spring and summer knits.

We are also offering skeins of Pink Lilac Cotton Comfort at a remarkable 50% off. This discontinued color has been a great favorite among knitters and crochet fans looking for skeins for baby knits, when the run of the mill pink or blue won’t do.

We also have a great deal on a small quantity of extra large unwashed skeins of Atlantis Mewesic. (Seen above in the Sabi Hat designed by Olga Buraya-Kefelian and knit up by Maureen as a holiday gift last month).

As it happens, a few of skeins of this yarn will be a future prize on BabyCocktail’s KAL that you may want to join. Thea Colman has suggested pairing the yarn with her Bastille Cowl pattern. Yum.

These skeins include a whopping 280 yards of yarn (instead of the usual 180). We are offering them at a 15% discount. These larger skeins could be a great choice for crafters interested in working on larger projects with fewer ends to weave in.

We hope that you have time to visit our little shop before the end of the month. You’ll find one-of-a-kind skeins in our selection there that are not available online. We’re also offering all of our in-stock book titles at 20% off. You may find it well worth a trip.

The arrival of 2015 has us at the Spinnery looking ahead with new resolutions and intentions as well as reflecting over the past year of projects. We’ve been looking back through our Ravelry project pages remembering each of the items that were completed this year and what was going on in our lives as those stitches were made.

We thought we would share our favorite projects with you this week. These may inspire you to cast on for something similar, or get a little bit of new joy out of projects of your own that you are proud of.

All of us at the Spinnery were excited as the first skeins of our new Mewesic yarn made their way through production. This fall all of us cast on eagerly to play with the new yarn and get a sense of how it knit up. Eric made a stunning new sample of the Wonderland Gloves pattern using Sandman, Brickhouse, and Evergreen. The contrasting colors pop beautifully and the dense gauge of the gloves ensures satisfying warmth for your hands.

Kate used a similar color scheme for her first stranded color work project, Ysolda Teague’s Pyukkleen Cowl pattern. She found that the stitches just flew along her needles. By trying something new after years of knitting, she has opened up a whole new world of projects that she is eager to try her hand at.

Maureen’s favorite project of 2014 is the Summerhill cardigan designed by ANNESTRiCK (modeled by Kate above). This beautiful sweater knit up with Spinnery Sylvan Spirit in the Sterling color included her first contiguous shoulder. The technique results in the look of a set in sleeve with the convenience of a top-down construction. And with the included lacework of this pattern the result is stunning!

Larisa has selected one of her most recently finished projects as her favorite. Her Gold Rush Shawl designed by Amy Christoffers is a shop favorite knit up with the rich dark Evergreen color of Mewesic.

All of us enjoyed the KAL that had us working on this lovely shawl through the holiday season. It was fun to check in with one another around the “water cooler” and see who had progressed further through the charts.

As you look ahead to 2015 with resolutions or intentions for your craft, we hope that if there are particular projects or some new knitting skills you are eager to master, that we at the Spinnery can help make that happen for you. Our biannual Knitting Retreats have provided many crafters with a warm and friendly environment to learn exciting new techniques.

And if you are a Vermont (or southern New Hampshire) local, you may find that our Community Knit Night on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday evenings of every month from 5:30-7:30pm is a wonderfully supportive and nurturing group. Many a new knitter has found answers, suggestions, and other help from friendly neighbors around our work table.

All of us at the Spinnery wish you the happiest of New Years and hope that we’ll be seeing you soon.

Several seasons ago we sent a few dozen skeins of our New Mexico organic yarn to our friend Roy Kady in order to be hand painted. We received a wonderful care package this month filled with gorgeous skeins from the Navajo Nation that we want to share with you as a little holiday present.

We have small quantities of limited edition Hand Painted New Mexico Organic – a 100% Fine Wool (Rambouillet) grown in New Mexico and hand dyed by the indigenous Diné (Navajo) community.

Using traditional methods of dying has resulted in a subdued palette of natural tones that reflect the high desert environment of the American Southwest. The skeins are named for the plants used to create each hue.

Even more exciting, part of the proceeds from the sales of these skeins will benefit the artists who painted them, allowing us to give back to the Native American community that is such a vital part of our heritage.

We hope that you’ll take a look at these skeins on our website, or visit our little shop to enjoy the colors in person. They are $15 each and will disappear quickly.

A few weeks ago Kate finished a beautiful stranded cowl designed by Ysolda Teague: Pyukleen. We love the way this cowl knit up with 6 gorgeous tweedy our Mewesic.

She had leftovers of four of the colors that were close to complete skeins. She and Larisa spent some time on Ravelry looking for projects that can be finished with about 150 yards or less of DK weight yarn. We found some great accessory patterns that can be quickly finished with singles skeins that you may want to consider for your last minute knitted gifts.

With the first of December just a couple of days away, we know that there is no time to waste.

Eric’s Glovelets are a perfect gift! These wrist warmers can be knit up with a skein or less of Spinnery Mewesic. They are shown above in the Atlantis color. You could also use a single skein of Mountain Mohair for a denser, warmer pair.

Kate knit up a version of Olga Buraya-Kefelian’s Sabi Hat with a single skein of Brickhouse. This beanie is a fun knit whose crisp stitch pattern might appeal to both men and women on your gift list.

The “high tide” beanie version of the new Spinnery Ebb Tide Hats can be knit up with less than a skein’s worth of Mewesic. You can find more information in last week’s post.

And if you are willing to splurge on two skeins, you can make a Jul Hat designed by Jenny Gordy. Larisa knit hers up with just over a single skein of the Diamonds & Rust color.

Many of us at the Spinnery are busy knitting up our own collection of hand made gifts and we’ll have more project photos and suggestions to share with you as we approach the holidays.

We hope that you’ll give us a call at 800-321-9665 if you’d like us to provide you with some additional suggestions or better yet, we hope that you’ll have a chance to visit in person. We’ look forward to seeing you soon.

We’ve released a new pattern this week that you may want to take a closer look at. This is the Ebb Tide Hats pattern designed by Kate Salomon. The pattern includes instructions for two version of the hat: a “low tide” slouch and a “high tide” beanie.

This hat was inspired by long walks on the Cape Cod National Seashore. We love the texture reminiscent of tide washed sand and windswept dunes.

Knit up with Mewesic, with its rustic good looks and tweedy rich color, this hat knits up into a medium weight cap that drapes beautifully and wears well. Style, yarn, and two versions of the pattern combine into the perfect accessory for him or her!

The pattern calls for a bit less than a single skein of DK weight yarn for the smaller beanie version and would look great with any of our DK yarns such as our New Mexico Organic (as seen above), our Cotton Comfort or our Alpaca Elegance.

The 50/50 alpaca blend will provide beautiful drape for the “low tide” slouch hat which requires just over a single skein. You’ll have plenty of yarn left over for some fingerless mitts!

This pattern may make for a fun collection of hand made gifts for everyone on your list this year. Give us a call at 800-321-9665 and we can help you find the perfect colors for everyone you’d like to knit a “little something” for.

Our weekend in Rhinebeck was wonderful. The New York Sheep & Wool Festival is a treat to attend every year and last week was no exception. The weather was perfect (just brisk enough on Sunday to require woolen layers). The fall color seemed to be at its peak and the crowds seemed delighted with their visit. We loved seeing friends and making new ones.

One of our favorite aspects of the festival is the show and tell. We had many friends stop by our little “shop” to show us what they’ve been working on and how beautifully their projects knit up with our yarns. We thought we would share some of the ones were able to grab some photos of with you.

Our friend Diane stopped by wearing this great hat that she knit up with the leftover yarn she had in her stash after finishing this beautiful sweater. We just love how the Pine Warbler color of Spinnery Weekend Wool pops like the fall foliage and shows off her cables with crisp detail.

We got to talking with Liz while waiting in line for hot apple cider and fresh doughnuts. She pulled on a stunning version of the Sugarleaf Sweater designed by Mary-Heather Cogar and part of the Rhinebeck Sweater collection published by Ysolda Teague last fall.

Liz created this beautiful cardigan with Spinnery New Mexico Organic and Alpaca Elegance in the Blue Lotus color for the lovely color work. It looks stunning on her, don’t you think?

Our friend Jenny is modeling her version of Flyaway by Marji LaFreniere. That beautiful drape is thanks to the Spinnery Sylvan Spirit she chose to work with in the Citrine color. The wool and Tencel blend lends the finished fabric of her sweater wonderful stitch definition and a swingy flattering shape.

We think that it is the details of this pattern that make it special. The cables run up the spine, and merge under the arm as part of the raglan sleeve construction.

We want to thank all of you who stopped by the Spinnery booth to introduce yourselves. You had a chance to see what we’ve been working on and touch and see our yarns in person. We hope that you’ll return next year with new projects to share with us or that we may have inspired you to come to Vermont for a visit to the Spinnery so that we don’t have to wait that long to see you again!